Japan to provide grant aid worth 677 million yen (about US$6 million) to hospitals in Syria that have been damaged by the conflict.
The aid will go into the “recovery and strengthening of lifesaving services by hospitals in areas severely damaged by the conflict,” the foreign ministry in Tokyo said in a statement.
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The agreement to grant aid to hospitals in Syria was signed at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, by Kazuyuki Yamazaki, Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of Japan to Geneva, and Director-General of the WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The ministry said it is the eleventh year since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in March 2011, and the “humanitarian crisis” continues there, with about 90 percent of the people in the country being poor, or about 13.4 million, which is about 79 percent of the population for which the humanitarian and protective support is much needed.
About 40 percent of all hospitals in Syria are not functioning due to the damage caused by the prolonged conflict, and about 50 percent of the primary medical centers that have been repaired so far have some malfunction, according to the ministry. In addition, the effects of the new coronavirus infection have made medical services in the country, which were already extremely vulnerable, even more difficult.
The Japanese grant aid will provide the Duma National Hospital in the suburbs of Damascus and another hospital in Aleppo with the restoration of basic infrastructure and medical equipment necessary for providing medical services. It also aims to improve humanitarian conditions in the health sector in Syria by strengthening stable trauma treatment and secondary medical services for Syrian citizens, including internally displaced persons.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
